


The Gargoyles and the Amber

by dracox_serdriel



Series: The Casket Memoirs [1]
Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gemini - Freeform, Gen, Libra, M/M, Post-Season/Series 02, Post-Season/Series 06, Work In Progress, aquarius
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2015-09-17
Packaged: 2018-04-06 16:14:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4228443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracox_serdriel/pseuds/dracox_serdriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mystic Falls is rocked by the slaughter of the Gemini coven at Jo and Alaric's wedding and the sleeping curse put on Elena. Only a few days later, complications arise when the Libra coven demands custody of the Gemini bodies and a new sheriff takes command of the local police department.</p><p>With no council to protect its interests, Mystic Falls residents suffer at the hand of new supernatural factions and feuds, so Matt Donovan recruits April Young to organize a new committee to defend the town and its citizens. Meanwhile, the Travelers reappear as a clan begins to settle across the outskirts of town, and rumors spread of other supernatural groups ready to stake a claim on Mystic Falls: the Ogres, the Sol-Kin, the Grimstone-Song coven, and the Heretics. </p><p>Bonnie Bennett, Caroline Forbes, and the Salvatore brothers dedicate themselves to preventing imminent supernatural disasters, but they soon find themselves in desperate need of allies. So desperate, in fact, that they travel to New Orleans for the aid of the Michaelson family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Aftermath (Caroline Forbes)

**Author's Note:**

> **Spoiler Alert** : _The Casket Monologues_ references events, characters, and mythology from the TV shows The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, so each chapter may contain spoilers for episodes through The Vampire Diaries 06x22 ("I'm Thinking of You All the While") and The Originals 02x22 ("Ashes to Ashes").

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter subtitles are all from the lyrics of "Warning" by Incubus.

When she woke in the morning, she knew that her life had passed her by.  
And she called out a warning, "Don't ever let life pass you by."

\-- Incubus "Warning"

* * *

What's so wrong with being happy?

* * *

Alaric is sedated in the hospital. Tyler is hiding in the woods, and Jeremy has basically joined him. Elena has gone all Sleeping Beauty, and Damon is... well, Damon. I should be crying my eyes out, doubled over in panic-pain from all the anxiety and grief. I should hate myself, be disgusted by all the terrible things I did when my humanity was turned off. It was only two weeks ago.

I should be a wreck.

But the truth is, I'm overjoyed, over-excited, over the moon. My heart is beating out of my chest at the thought of Stefan and I. 

I feel guilty for being so happy when everything has fallen apart. 

I was the one who wound up taking Alaric to the hospital after... everything. The doctors treated him for shock, but I feel like witnessing the murder of your wife and unborn twins on your wedding day results in something bigger and darker than 'shock.'

But I guess they can't treat that at the hospital.

Damon is reacting black-hole style: everything still on the outside but imploding just under the surface. 

I suppose that's better than Tyler, though I can't really blame him. Liv died, and he trigged his curse sometime during the wedding slaughter. I tried to talk to him, but all he said was the curse saved his life. Then he disappeared. Jeremy took a cache of hunter's weapons and went off to join him the next day.

I think they're both desperate for an escape. And I don't blame them. Sometimes escape is the only thing we have to hold off the crushing blow of grief.

 

Stefan is off looking for his mom, making sure she's not ripping anyone's head off. I offered to help, since we know Enzo is with her, but he said he'd handle it on his own. I'm not a fan of that plan, but someone needs to be here for Damon and Alaric. 

That, and Matt said he had some meeting he needs help with.

All this is two days post-Wedding Slaughter... 

I need to come up with a better name for that before I try to talk to Alaric tonight.

* * *

Like frogs oblivious

* * *

We might have a big problem. I mean, _another_ big problem, named Kiera Farrington-Fell. She's stepped in as the Interim Sherriff.

How did this happen? My mom asked Deputy Riley to take over because he knows about the vampires and witches and everything, but he doesn't know about me, Tyler, or any of the other supernaturals in this town. Riley knew who his allies were, though. He knew he could trust me and Damon, but this Kiera person and I just met.

How did she even get the job? She's never worked as a cop in this town, and she and her family just moved back here last year. Yet the county board just swoops right in and appoints her until they can organize an election!

Matt is already on digging up info on her, trying to figure out if we can trust her, but what concerns me is that she's here right now. Why right now? Why right after we have a major supernatural catastrophe? This is the worst time to have some new person in charge of the police force.

Luckily, Riley had already handled most of the cover up on the Wedding Slaughter (which still needs a new name), so I guess we just hope she's on our side or at least not on vervain. 

That's why Matt needed to meet with me. He thinks Mystic Falls needs to revive the Council. I reminded him the Council's only surviving Council members are Damon and Alaric, and neither of them are in any state to handle Council matters. 

"It should be me, you, Stefan, Tyler, Alaric, Bonny, Jeremy, and, yeah, even Damon," he said. "Maybe we can get a few other human members. But, the Council can't be founding family members who get all their information from books that're two-hundred years old."

He's got a point. The Council failed to see what the Salvatores were because they were convinced vampires couldn't walk in the sun. That's also how they missed me for so long. I don't think any of the Council members knew about werewolves until Tyler told his mom. 

But right now, this New Council isn't really a council. There's just me, Matt, and Bonnie, and all of us are dealing with an entire coven of dead witches.

* * *

Cosmic Jacuzzi

* * *

I guess I don't have to worry as much about Damon. I found him in Alaric's hospital room with a bottle of Bourbon, which I am calling a total upgrade from his drinking alone at home with little more than a strategically placed towel. And to be honest, he wasn't all that concerned with modesty, either. It's not the kind of thing anyone should have to witness on the way to the shower.

Anyway, it seems like he's taken it upon himself to get Ric back on his feet with a bottle of Bourbon and sarcasm. I doubt it'll work, but so long as he's busy with his latest project slash obsession, he won't have time to switch to full-on meltdown mode. 

Or maybe that's just my relentless optimism.

More like my desperate need for something else to go right or at least get back on track right now. Stefan couldn't find his mother or Enzo, and he's pretty sure that the vampire-witch hybrids broke out of the Gemini prison since the entire coven died.

When Stefan told me he couldn't find a trace of them, he was trying to be reassuring, but he's worried. Scared, even. I can tell. Apparently he and Jo had an extended powwow about the Heretics after she explained the basics to him, Damon, and Alaric. She didn't want to worry Ric and didn't think Damon cared, so she opted to tell Stefan everything.

These Heretics... they weren't just witches with fangs. They have a vendetta against other witches because siphoners are seen as mistakes at best, though most covens view them as abominations and reject them entirely. Then Lily Salvatore comes along and does the impossible. She turns the outcast and bitter pseudo-witches into vampire-witch hybrids, throwing the whole "you can't be both a witch and vampire" idea out the window.

Part of me gets it. I mean, these people (and they were people at one point) were abused, rejected, and finally thrown out by their families or their coven or both. That's a harsh introduction to life, especially in the supernatural world. Who wouldn't be angry? Then one day, they become immortal, powerful, and hungry for blood. Literally hungry for blood. That makes them the worst kind of enemy: vengeful, fearless, powerful, and unpredictable.

And now they're here.

Kai destroyed the Gemini coven, which means the Heretics' archenemies have been defeated. So that begs the question, what will they do next? After spending over a century locked away, their captors are all dead, but something tells me that they're not just going to skip off into the sunset, satisfied with their freedom. Any person who has been rejected and insulted, then empowered, then imprisoned is going to have some serious issues. So six people who also happen to be vampires and witches? Yeah, serious issues. The kind that doesn't go away at the demise of archenemies. Which all basically translates to us being screwed. Again.

But there's nothing I can do about that particular problem right now, which leads me to my current issue, Channing Spurlock. 

Don't get me started on how dumb a name that is.

This Spurlock woman showed up today at the hospital morgue and tried to claim Jo's body. The hospital was inclined to do it, too, until I pointed out that all of Jo's family was dead except for Ric. He's the only one who can claim the body, or he gets first dibs at least. I don't know the technical legal jargon, but the only way someone else could claim Jo's body is if Ric didn't or wouldn't. 

And, no, he hasn't done it yet, but it's only been three days. What kind of person swoops in and tries to claim the remains of someone's wife three days after the murder, while the husband is in the hospital for shock? A crappy one, obviously.

I can't solve the Heretic problem, but I can solve Channing Spurlock. So far all I know about her is that's she's somehow connected to or related to the Parker family. I figure between me and Matt, we can figure out who she is and why she thinks she has any right to come into Mystic Falls and claim one of our people.

* * *

We all float face down

* * *

I just signed the title of my house over to Bonnie. She and her mom didn't want to live in her dad's old house, and her mom hasn't had a place in Mystic Falls for years. Anyone could walk into my house when it was in my name, and with the possibility of the Heretics returning to Mystic Falls one day, I don't think the open-to-any-vampire-door policy is a good one to live with.

And, frankly, I kinda needed it. Last night was the first time I've been able to sleep in my old bed without waking up because the house was too quiet. 

That's the good news. The bad news is that Channing has made it her personal mission to acquire Jo's body. She's got all kinds of legal papers.

So maybe I went into the morgue and switched around some identification numbers. I only did it to buy time! I would've taken the body, but there's no way for me to get her body out of the morgue without the cameras catching me. Whoever designed that morgue layout must've known about vamp-speed or something, because there's no direct exit from where the bodies are kept. There are four doors that can only be opened electronically, and they're damn slow. 

Fine, I guess I could've busted through the doors, but the last thing I need is Sheriff Farrington-Fell looking for the Incredible Hulk in Mystic Falls.

So I switched up some paper work. I guess that's technically illegal, but I don't think my mom would disapprove under these circumstances.

But she found the body anyway! And she _took_ Jo! 

So, I stormed off to find Channing to tell her what she can do with all her paperwork, and I couldn't find her. Bonnie had to cast a locator spell.

She was at the wedding. Well, not the actually wedding, but the location, you know, where we just covered up a massacre. What the hell was she doing there?

Bonnie came as backup because clearly this Channing woman was up to something. 

What I saw was so incredibly messed up I thought I was having an anxiety dream.

Every member of Gemini - except Kai - was there, in the exact position they were when the bride and groom were saying their vows. The entire family was spread out, posed in their seats. Channing hadn't just set up the wedding, she recreated it. All the bodies were cleaned up and redressed, so when you first walked in, it seems like everyone is alive. 

But the worst part was Jo, standing there in her wedding dress, looking so beautiful and so alive.

The first thought I had was that I had dreamed the whole Kai thing as some sort of wedding planner anxiety dream, and everyone was alive and fine, and we need to get Alaric's ass to his wedding.

The second thought I had was, whoever did this is going to have their throats ripped out by yours truly. 

I didn't get a chance to have a third thought because it felt like someone buried a hatchet in my head, and I blacked out.

* * *

See through sickness

* * *

I woke up outside by my car. It took me a few minutes to realize that Bonnie must've moved me after someone knocked me out. Then I got worried. Where was she? And more importantly, where was my attacker?

So I closed my eyes and listened, and I heard two voices, not far off. One was definitely Bonnie, and the other... was Channing Spurlock.

I booked it, knocking Channing to the ground, ready to help Bonnie take this bitch out.

"Caroline!" Bonnie shouted.

"Bonnie, are you okay?" I asked.

"It's not what you think," Channing said from the ground. "I'm sorry I attacked you, but I thought you were a Heretic."

"You've taken our friends and posed their corpses like they were at the wedding," I said. "What reason could you possibly have?"

"She says they're not dead," Bonnie replied.

"They're not," Channing said. 

"If they were alive, I'd hear their hearts beating," I replied. 

"As I was explaining to your friend here, they're alive, but that's not the same as living," Channing said. "My name is Channing Spurlock, but before I left Gemini, I was Channing Parker. These people are my family, and when I heard what Kai did, I... we came here to save them."

"We? Who's we?" I asked.

"The Libra coven," Channing replied. 

Bonnie said her mom had mentioned them. Channing went on to give us a long, boring history of how Libra was formed in 1980 when Kai showed signs of being a siphoning warlock. Apparently a whole bunch of Gemini witches jumped ship and formed a new coven. When she was blabbing on about it, I was super-cynical, but since Kai murdered his entire coven at his twin sister's wedding, I guess forming Libra was a pretty smart idea.

Not that I told _her_ any of this.

The long and short of it is that Channing Spurlock and her Libra coven took the Gemini bodies and put them in some kind of witchy preservation. It's not resurrection, though, it's more like a time capsule. A time capsule that existed moments before Kai destroyed everything. That's why their hearts weren't beating.

I don't believe her, obviously, but I want to. I want to believe that Libra has the power to save Gemini, but when Bonnie saved Jeremy with magic, it killed her. So how would anyone hope to save an entire coven of witches without trading in an equal number of lives?

The thing is, after I decided that I couldn't listen to another word out of Channing's mouth and stormed off to get Jo's body to take with us, I felt something. When I touched Jo, she was warm. So I checked the other Gemini creepily sitting in their wedding seats. 

They were all warm.

So we've got a coven of witches frozen in time set up in the barn where Alaric and Jo got married. None of them have heartbeats, but their bodies are still warm. 

On the off chance that Channing and her wonder witch coven aren't lying or crazy, Bonnie and I agreed to leave the bodies where they were so long as Libra took measures to prevent other people from walking in. 

Especially Ric. Ric can't see that. He just can't. I know he's going to find out eventually, but right now, he's barely on his feet. Damon got him to help pack up Elena's stuff for long-term storage, but they went through at least two bottles of whiskey when they were at Whitmore. Stefan had to go pick them up because they were too drunk to drive back.

But I can't worry about that right now. Right now me, Bonnie, and her mom Abby are gonna dig up every scrap of evidence we can find on Libra and Gemini. 

I want them to be who they say they are. I want Jo and Liv and all the others to be alive. 

But something tells me this whole thing is much bigger than a broken coven and its discontented offshoot. Much bigger.


	2. Hairline Fractures (Matthew Donovan)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter subtitles are all from the lyrics of "Carnival of Rust" by Posts of the Fall.

> It's all a game, avoiding failure, when true colors will bleed  
> All in the name of misbehavior and the things we don't need  
> \-- Poets of the Fall "Carnival of Rust"

* * *

All this Turmoil

* * *

I've been avoiding everyone lately. My training has really picked up and kept me busy. At least that's what I've been telling myself. Truth is, I've been avoiding all my friends because there's nothing I can do.

Worst of all is Alaric.

I mean, I told him to skip town. At the time it was just because I was angry at what this place does to good people. I didn't actually think anything bad was gonna happen to him or Jo or anything like that. I was just pissed off.

We bumped into each other at the Grill, and he told me over and over again that I was right. He kept asking why he didn't just listen to me. I hope he was too drunk to remember our conversation because I certainly had nothing to say. I mean, what do you say to that?

So I've been avoiding everyone, burying myself in work under the guise of "this is what I can do to help." 

We haven't elected a new sheriff yet, but the county appointed an interim sheriff in the meantime, Kiera Farrington-Fell. So far all she's done is paperwork and scheduling, but she's made it her personal mission to know everything about everyone training it be a deputy. 

Needless to say, we've had some awkward conversations. Where is my mom these days? Why did I live (however briefly) with the Gilberts? How is it that the Lockwood mansion wound up in my name even though Tyler Lockwood is still around?

I didn't have great answers for any of her questions, but she didn't seem to be expecting any. 

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but something in the way she said "animal attacks" and "accidental deaths" made me think she was in the know. Why else would she bother looking into real estate titles and memorize who owns which house? 

But I can't risk it... if she doesn't know for sure, and I let her in, that's just gonna make her a target. With Elena gone, who knows what Damon will do next? I doubt he'd think once - let alone twice - about killing another founding family member.

That's why I can't leave. I might just be some ordinary guy in a town full of supernatural creatures, but I can't leave. The woman that saved my life by giving her own is sleeping in a coffin somewhere in this town, and so help me, I'll protect her, even if I have to return the favor.

So I've been thinking about starting a council. Not like the old one that was anti-everything supernatural.... something better. A group that knows about what's out there, what's going on, and how to assess if certain individuals are a threat or not. A group that could actually defend this town from vampires like Enzo or the Travelers. A group that protects everyone living in Mystic Falls, including the supernatural on our side like Bonnie, Tyler, Jeremy, and... I can't believe I'm counting them, but the Salvatore Brothers.

And, even though it makes absolutely no sense, Damon might be the best one to lead it. Personally, I think the guy is a dick, but he has worked on the council before. Hell, he even led the council for a while.

 

* * *

No Disaster can Touch

* * *

I think I might be losing my mind.

For the last leg of training, they put us on patrols of sparely populated areas. All the trainees go alone with a supervising officer in a squad car. The goal is to report whatever you see no matter how odd or random.

The first two patrol areas were normal. I saw more birds than people, and there wasn't a lot going on. 

But the third location had a lot of people. I approached one woman to ask what was going on, but she turned her back and walked away. I followed her, of course.

Then I hit a wall.

Not an actual wall, though. It was like I suddenly got hit with doubts. Is it legal for me to follow someone into a barn, even if she wasn't doing anything suspicious? Is her ignoring me a reason to be concerned at all? It was like, all of a sudden, I couldn't remember what the rules were...

So I tried to return to patrol, but I got this terrible feeling like this place was cursed. I tried to shake it because, I mean, what part of Mystic Falls isn't cursed, right? But it kept crawling back into my head. I shouldn't be out here. Being out here meant people would get hurt. The only way to help them was to leave.

And I was leaving, until I recognized where I was: the barn where Alaric and Jo were supposed to be married.

I did what I was trained to do. Ignore the paralyzing fear, ignore the doubt, and march on in.

I can't even begin to describe what I saw in that barn.

Caroline was there with Kiera, the sheriff. They dragged me out of that barn before I could process. 

"I have to tell Ric," I said. "Does he even know about this?"

"Not yet," Carolina said.

She was talking like it's normal to taxidermy an entire wedding full of people, and Kiera wasn't surprised one bit. 

"When did you two become friends?" I asked.

That's when another woman, Channing Spurlock, came over. First she tells me that she was impressed with how I fought off the warding spell, something about how she's never seen a human barrel right through the barrier like that.

When I asked her what they were doing here, she started going on about another witch coven and how Kiera and her go way back. I told them I don't believe a word of it.

"They're warm," Caroline said. "Everyone inside, Matt. They're not dead. I checked."

"Then why isn't Ric here?" I asked. You'd think people saving his fiancé would be reason for him to show his face, right?

"I'm going to tell him right now," Caroline said. "He's at the Grill with Damon."

"Go with her," Kiera said. "That's an order. Discontinue your patrol and escort Miss Forbes here to the Grill."

So I radioed in to the officer, Deputy Riley, and told him that Sherriff Farrington-Fell had given me new orders. Then the Sheriff walked me and Caroline to the squad car and asked Riley to go with her and give me the keys.

 

* * *

Taste the Blame

* * *

I drove Caroline to the Grill, but when I saw Ric's car, I couldn't go in. Caroline told me she'd handle the talking, but I don't believe what Spurlock or Kiera said. How could I give Ric any kind of hope that his family was still alive without being sure? 

But Caroline, she was sure. So I told her I'd wait outside.

It was a damn good thing I did, too.

I called Bonnie, but she didn't pick up. So I called Caroline's house - or, Bonnie's home phone number, I guess, since she moved in. She wasn't there, but her mom, Abby, picked up.

"You might be able to help me," I explained. "I'm trying to learn more about a woman named Channing Spurlock and her coven."

"Bonnie and I have been looking into them for the last three days," Abbey said. "Ever since Caroline and Bonnie found the Amber Wedding."

So not only are there even freakier things happening in Mystic Falls, but Bonnie and Caroline kept this from me for three days.

I didn't bring that up, though. What I said was, "Amber Wedding?"

Abbey replied, "Frozen in time seemed wrong. The word 'frozen' made it sound like they were dead, like cryonics. It seemed wrong. Then Caroline said they looked like they were suspended, trapped in the amber like those bugs that are preserved perfectly. So we went with that: the wedding location was preserved: the Amber Wedding. We actually agreed to call it the Amber Barn, since we could say that anywhere without attracting unwanted attention."

She went on to explain that for the last three days, Bonnie and this Spurlock person have been setting up some kind of parameter to keep people away. I guess that's why I felt so weird around it. 

That's when Bonnie came out of the Grill and came straight to me. I told Abbey and hung up.

"Matt, good," she said as she got into the car. "We need to go around back."

"What for?"

"Trust me."

I pulled around back, but I gave her a piece of my mind about her and Caroline keeping stuff from me. She apologized, but she told me that Enzo was inside.

I wanted to run in and stake him right then and there.

"You can't," Bonnie said. "He came in to say goodbye to Damon. He said that he and Lily went looking for the Heretics but couldn't find them. Enzo thinks that they were killed, either by Kai before he got out of that prison, or by the Gemini coven when they died and the prison world died with them."

"Great, we should kill Enzo while we have the chance," I said. "I get why you guys won't hurt Stefan or Damon - "

"Or Caroline," Bonnie said.

"I wouldn't even think of hurting her," I said.

"She and Stefan went on a spree," Bonnie said.

"But Enzo isn't like them."

"He's like Damon, you mean."

"Damon tries," I said. I can't believe I defended that ass, but I did. "Enzo kills people because he's in a bad mood."

"But we need him," Bonnie said. "Stefan and Damon both said he's the only one left that Lily really cares about. He's going to take her back to London."

"So your solution is to let them go on killing somewhere else?" I asked.

"My solution is, we've got way too much here to deal with to worry about Lily Salvatore and Enzo."

She was right, of course, but I didn't say so. I couldn't think about how messed up everything was, so I kept my mouth shut for a few minutes.

Then Bonnie got a text.

"Enzo's gone," Bonnie said. 

So we went in. Ric was drinking at the bar with Caroline, and Damon was at the pool table, brooding.

Caroline was trying to talk to Ric, but he didn't seem to be listening. 

"He didn't take the whole Amber Wedding thing well, did he?" I asked Bonnie.

I was such an idiot. I thought they had told him, but Damon had interrupted too much, I guess. 

"What the hell is he talking about?" Ric asked. "I said, no one mentions weddings. Is that so damn hard?"

"Ric... there's something you need to see," Bonnie said.

"No, there's nothing for me to see. I've checked," Ric replied. 

So I stepped in, again like an idiot, and said, "The barn where you were married is suspended in time during your wedding." Maybe not that exactly, but I definitely said something about the barn, his wedding, and time. 

I don't really remember because Ric decked me. He kept coming until Damon pulled him off me. 

Caroline offered her blood to heal me, but I refused.

Damon and Bonnie were all ready to take Ric, but I insisted on me taking him. He's going to see some seriously messed up crap, and he's gonna need a human being. I get that Damon actually cares about Ric, but he's a vampire. No matter how hard he tries, he's not a man. 

Ric agreed to go with me, but I knew Caroline and Bonnie and probably even Damon would follow.

 

* * *

Come Feed the Rain

* * *

I wish I was losing my mind. It'd be better than what I just saw. As soon as we got to that barn, I felt that barrier weighing on me again, but it didn't bother Ric.

I guess when you've lost as much as he has, nothing that preys on emotion could ever stop you.

When I caught up with him, Ric was collapsed at Jo's feet, crying his eyes out. I went over to him but kept my distance.

"She's warm," he kept saying. "But she doesn't have a heart beat. She's not breathing. So how is she warm?"

I didn't have an answer.

"What the hell is this freak show?" Damon said as he came in. "Donovan, I'd blame you for this if you weren't so damn useless."

Channing Spurlock was there, right behind Damon, with Bonnie and Caroline.

"The Libra Coven is responsible," Channing said. 

Damon vamped over to her and grabbed her, but Ric asked him not to hurt her but to bring her over. As soon as she was in an arm's reach, Ric wrapped his hands around her throat. It wasn't pretty to watch, and Damon and Caroline had to break them apart. 

"Listen to her, Ric," Bonnie said. "The Libra Coven can save the Gemini Coven."

"You think I give a damn about Gemini?" Ric asked. "Jo didn't have any magic. She wasn't part of the coven anymore, but that didn't stop Kai from stabbing her in the back! He killed our children because they had the potential for being the next Gemini leaders. You think I want to save Gemini? I don't."

"We can save Jo," Channing said. "Maybe even your children, too. That's why we did all this."

"Uh, hello," Damon said. "Caroline? Bonnie? Matt? Are you listening to this crazy woman? Do you guys not remember what happened when Bon-Bon here saved Jeremy? And that was before, when the Other Side existed with all the supernatural deadies floating around nearby."

He had a point. 

"This is not up to you," Channing said to Damon. "It is this man, Josette's husband, who must decide if he will help us."

"You can't expect me to believe you," Ric said.

"The Libra Coven is prepared to offer you a demonstration," Channing said. "We are confident that you will be satisfied, so long as you're willing to witness our work. You won't need us to attest to the fact that there are no ill effects."

"Unless there are ill effects an you're just covering them up," I replied.

"I cannot believe I'm actually saying this, but I'm with Donovan on this one," Damon said. "Ric, I say we take Jo out of this horror show."

"If you do that, she will be dead," Channing said. "And Libra will not have enough power to bring her back."

Before I could say anything else, Caroline dragged me and Damon outside.

"Come on, Caroline," I said. "Damon made a good point. Bonnie died when she brought Jeremy back."

"But Damon and Bonnie came back," Caroline said. "They both came back without anyone dying. They went from the Other Side into one of those Gemini Prisons, and then they went from there to here."

"It took them months to figure it out, and they needed Bonnie's blood or something," I replied.

"But nobody died," Caroline said.

"Totally different, totally irrelevant," Damon said.

"Hey, wait!" Caroline said. "We are gonna let them show Ric what they can do, and if they're lying or wrong, you can rip their throats out, Damon. And Matt can shoot them."

"I don't want to shoot anyone," I said.

But that was that. Ric was going to decide what came next, and I knew I shouldn't interfere with that.

 

* * *

True Colors

* * *

I went home with a black eye and lump on my head, thanks to Ric. As I pulled up to the Tyler Mansion, I saw three people waiting at the foot of the steps.

"Who are you?" I asked. "This is private property."

"We came to see you, Matt Donovan," the man said. "I am Jesse, and this is Janna, my sister. We come with a peace offering."

Janna held out a knife. It looked familiar, but I couldn't figure out why. It had ceremonial markings on it, though.

"You once kept the last dagger," Jesse said. "It was destroyed, so we forged a new one. We give it to you now to show you that we mean no harm to you or Mystic Falls and to atone for the past crimes of the Travelers."

I flipped out when they said 'Travelers.' I thought they'd all blown out of here after their magic drain thing finally disappeared. But according to Janna and Jesse, that group of Travelers was some kind of extremist group, and people like Janna and Jesse lived in small family units, sometimes moving, sometimes settling, and carried on without possessing people. 

That's twice in one day people have fed me a line of bull that even the most naïve idiot wouldn't believe.

Then they stabbed the third person with them. I stopped them, pulled the knife out, and administered first aid like I was taught. 

"What did you do?" I yelled.

"We saved her," Janna said.

"She was taken by a Traveler named Julia," Jesse said. "She followed Markos. When he died, she took this young girl's body as her own and fled. We return her to you with this knife as a sign of our good will. We will meet again, Matt Donovan."

They left as I called nine one one. As I was putting pressure on her wound, waiting for the ambulance, I realized that the girl was Gracie Bell Young, April's cousin. She had been missing for over a year.

When the EMTs got there, I said she had been stabbed but I couldn't be sure of anything else.

I didn't really lie. I can't be sure what happened. Maybe Jesse and Janna were really trying to fix what Markos and his people did. Maybe they stabbed an innocent girl. I figured it would be better for her to try to explain. If she was possessed by a Traveler, she probably won't remember. 

That's the only way I can think to tell. I called Abbey and asked for her help, since Bonnie was dealing with the Libra Coven. 

I'm getting my badge soon. I don't deserve it.

I'll admit it. I've been questioning my decision to be a cop for a while now. Today, I let Libra "preserve" Jo and Liv, like some kind of sick science experiment suspended in a jar, and I suppressed evidence in a stabbing. I took the new Traveler Knife and hid it in the mansion because, hey, it might actually be a Traveler Knife and I might need it to expel them from other people some day, which means it can't be locked up in evidence. And I lied about what I saw to the EMTs and to my superiors because it was the easy thing to do in my situation.

I don't deserve to be a cop.

But it's more than that. I keep thinking, what's the point? A cop is supposed to protect and serve. But how can you protect people in a town where a single maniac can slaughter a powerful coven of witches like Gemini? How can you serve people who might be possessed with Travelers hiding from their enemies or out for revenge for what happened with Markos?

All I know is, I gotta find Tyler. I won't let him find out about Liv by accident. That means I need to head into the woods. Maybe by the time I find Jeremy and Tyler, I'll know if I should take that badge or finally pack a bag and get the hell out of Mystic Falls.


	3. Stasis (Alaric Saltzman)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter subtitles are all based on the e. e. cummings' poem "up into the silence the green."
> 
>  **Warning** : This chapter is currently under revisions and is subject to change.

> down into your memory and  
> a memory and memory  
> \-- e.e. cummings "up into the silence the green"

* * *

(kiss me)you will go

* * *

There is nothing to say. That is what it is: nothing. Anyone trying to fill that void with words is just rolling that stone up the mountain, and everyone knows that the farther you go the more it'll crush you on its way back down.

Everyone thinks I've given up, and there were a few dark hours that I wanted to go into the ground with Jo and our twins. But that's the kind of thing a homicidal maniac of a brother-in-law can inspire when he stabs his sister in the back so you can see him do it. Losing Elena in the same day was like having my insides sucked out with a straw.

There is nothing to say. I'm not giving up, I'm leaving the stone. Let it fall where it may. Climbing is hard enough, and I can't bear the weight of anyone but myself. Not now.

Damon keeps bringing bourbon, and not the cheap stuff, either. The only downside is that I have to listen to Damon talk and talk and talk. And then he tries to get me to speak. After a while, he gets bored and starts pretending to be me. He winds up having whole conversations between him and me, with him saying everything.

He's an ass, but at least he's got good taste in liquor. 

What does he expect me to say? That my life is miserable and empty and without purpose? That it hurts? That I'm pissed off? 

Fine. My life is empty, miserable, and has no purpose, and I'm hurt and pissed off. I had a better life when I was dead and on the Other Side.

The truth is, I want to say I keep seeing her in that dress and that I replay her expression over and over again as blood seeped into the whiteness. But I don't. Recently, I've only been able to see what's right in front of my face. It's like my inner eye, my imagination, was unplugged, and it won't work. I try to picture Jo. God knows I've got a hundred good memories of her and a thousand images of her face somewhere in my head, but every time I try to remember her, to realize her, there's nothing except for the here and now.

And Jo? She's not here, certainly not now.

 

* * *

down into your memory

* * *

Or at least, Jo _wasn't_ here.

Then some people mentioned things like the 'Amber Wedding' and the 'Amber Barn.' 

I'll admit I reacted poorly. I put Matt Donovan on the receiving-end of a few good punches, and Damon took his chance to tackle me under a socially acceptable pretense. 

I calmed down, and Matt drove me there. He kept both radios off, and neither of us spoke for the entire ride. For a few moments, we were just two guys in a car, bleeding and passing the time till we arrived at our destination. The silence seemed right.

I walked into that damn barn, and there she was. I don't remember if I walked or ran or teleported to her side, but suddenly we were together again. She was so perfect.

People say "I couldn't believe it," when they really mean they're happily surprised. Not only could I believe it, I wanted to believe it. From the moment I saw her, I desperately hoped that my eyes weren't deceiving me. 

Her skin was warm, and her eyes were open and focused. As I took her wrist in my hand, I mutely begged whatever benevolent beings that might exist for this one thing to be true. All I wanted was to feel a heartbeat.

The seconds passed by. I felt no heartbeat and saw no breathing. Her eyes were open but unblinking, unmoving. Jo was no more alive in that moment than she was when I carried her to my car, bloody and still.

I stood in my stained t-shirt and dusty jeans for eons, holding her hands, staring into her eyes. I didn't think about it, I simply reacted to the circumstances by holding my breath. That's when I really felt it: we were still and lifeless, in complete stasis, neither alive nor dead.

Then my autonomic nervous system kicked in, and involuntarily respiration began. All over again, I realized that I was alive, and Jo was not. She is dead, just like she's been dead, and this was all some horrific hoax. Those seconds in stasis, I had forgotten that there are no benevolent beings in Mystic Falls.

As I collapsed to my knees, I vowed never again to forget that. 

For days I've stared at the photos I have of Jo, desperate to remember her, and now I can't see anything but her face.

 

* * *

on into the sunlight

* * *

My knuckles are bloody. I hit more than one person. Volatile is a good descriptor; in fact, today, Damon Salvatore had better sense than me.

According to Coven Leader Channing Spurlock, Josette is still alive and so are our twins. They're alive and frozen in time, and all they need is that last little push to bring them from the moment before their deaths into this moment, the here and now. 

I can't believe it. There are no benevolent beings in Mystic Falls. 

Everything I know about magic tells me this can't be true. Manipulating time must come with an enormous cost, and anyone willing to take the risks that come with raising the dead must be insane and reckless.

But you know what? Screw the cost and the consequences. After everything I have seen, after dying and coming back as a super-vampire, after becoming human again, why can't Jo survive this? This Libra coven is desperate to save the members of Gemini...

That's when I understood what was really happening here.

"So you want to save Jo?" I asked Channing.

"We want to save all of Gemini," she replied. "Like most members of Libra, this is a family matter to me. Joshua is my brother, Mr. Saltzman, which makes Jo and Liv my nieces."

"But since Kai merged with Luke, he became the new Coven Leader, which means your brother Josh can't be the leader again," I said.

"No, he can't, but - "

"You seem to be missing some important facts," I said. "First, Kai took all of Jo's power, so she's not in Gemini anymore. Second, the two of us were going to disappear to make sure our kids didn't wind up in some tug-o-war with Gemini trying to pull them in so they can merge together at age twenty-two."

"Mr. Saltzman, we - "

"Stop it," I said loudly. "Stop lying. You're only saving Jo because you want her to merge with Liv. One of them dies and the other absorbs a few new traits. That is how it works, right? And who lives is based on who has the most power, and since Kai took all of Jo's power - "

Channing finally raised her voice when she said, "We don't want a new Gemini leader!"

"Don't you dare lie to me!"

"I am not lying to you, Mr. Saltzman," Channing said. "The Gemini coven became very powerful because of the Merge ritual, but they were also uniquely vulnerable. One volatile leader, one powerful enemy with good aim, and the entire coven falls. You were here. You saw it. We do not want a new Gemini leader. We want them to join Libra, and if they had a new leader, they'd never do that."

"Then tell me why you want to save Jo," I said. "She's not a member of the coven."

"I told you, she's my niece," Channing replied. "I'm immensely proud of her accomplishments, and if I can save her, I will. Let us be clear here, Mr. Saltzman, the only thing under question right now is whether or not you will help us save her."

"Help? How the hell can I possibly help?" I asked.

"This spell works best when a connection to the living exist, someone in the here and now," Channing explained. "The anchor in question goes into stasis and his or her life force helps... update the internal clocks of the others."

"You want me to become a warm statue, like everybody else in this room?" I asked.

"We don't expect you to say yes without proof, which is why we're - "

"I'll do it," I interrupted. 

What is the worst that could happen? They put me under some witchy spell and I die? I end up like Elena, taking a very long nap and wake up years later? What the hell am I risking if I don't do it?

"Had I known you'd be so willing to act as an anchor, I wouldn't have bothered with this," Channing said. "But I'm afraid everything is in motion."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You won't be able to leave this barn," she said. "Obviously, you can, but she can't. We can only keep this up for about twenty-four hours, so use them wisely. I'll give you two some privacy."

"What?" I asked again.

Channing went out the same door as Bonnie, Damon, Matt, and Caroline, and I stood alone in a hideous mockery of what was supposed to be my happiest day of my life. I turned and looked out at the Gemini members frozen in their seats.

All I could think was, _'Am I going to be ambered into stasis right now, or do I have time to go home and change?'_ Then I remembered, _'There are no benevolent beings in Mystic Falls.'_

"Ric?"

My heart must've stopped. I nearly fell over again.

"Ric? What happened to you? Where's you tuxedo? Are you bleeding?"

I turned, slowly, like if I moved too fast it would turn out this was all a dream, and then, there she was. 

Jo was alive.

 

* * *

up into the silence

* * *

"Are you bleeding?" she asked me again.

"Jo?" I asked. "Is it really you?"

"Were you expecting someone else in a wedding dress today?" she asked with a smile on her face.

I couldn't help it. I went to her, took her head in my hands, and kissed her.

"Please tell me you're real," I said as I pressed my forehead into hers.

"What else would I be?" she asked. She pushed me away and asked, "Ric? What the hell is going on?"

"You don't remember?" I asked.

"Of course I remember," she replied.

"Tell me. Tell me what you remember," I said as I put my hands on her stomach. 

As I spoke, I could feel the babies moving. I bit my tongue so I wouldn't cry. She stared at my face, concerned, but she replied, lowering her voice, as if afraid we would be overheard. 

She said, "You just finished saying your vows, and I'm nervous about saying mine... then, it's like a blink of the eye, the reverend was gone, and you're back was to me. And you're in different cloths."

"You don't remember anything else?" I asked. "You don't know what's happened?"

"Ric," she said, impatient. 

"Look," I said, turning her to face the rest of the barn. "Just, look."

Her face told me everything. I could see her drawing conclusions in her mind as she looked at the remainder of the wedding guests, all of them were Gemini and all of them were like statues.

"What is this, Ric?" she asked.

"I have no idea, but someone called it the Amber Barn, or the Amber Wedding," I replied. "The Gemini coven is in stasis."

"Stasis?" she repeated. "No, that's an old legend, a myth, it never actually happens. And besides, according to the legend, it only ever happens when the coven... if we had..."

"Died," I finished for her. "Kai showed up. He stabbed you, and then he killed himself, making himself one of those Heretic witch-vampire hybrid things."

"But if he's dead, then... my whole family would've died with him," she said.

"They did," Ric said. "And then Tyler bit Kai... and then I think Damon cut off his head. Pretty much everyone wanted him dead, and now he is."

"But if Gemini is in stasis, how are we talking?" she asked me. "Ric?"

I didn't want to talk about Spurlock and the Libra Coven. I didn't want to explain the details of the Amber Wedding needing an anchor. I just wanted to take Jo's hand and run. Change our identities, change our names, change everything, and everyone else be damned.

"Holy - no way!" Damon yelled as he came into the barn. 

He vamp-speeded to Jo and poked her squarely in the forehead. Jo smacked him across the face. 

"Nice to see you too, Damon," Jo said. 

"Ouch, definitely real," Damon replied. 

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Making sure sketchy Spurlock woman wasn't lying her ass off, obviously," Damon replied. "Putting a weird hallucination spell on you would be pretty easy. Spreading it around would be a little harder."

"I'm not a hallucination," Jo said.

"Funny, exactly what a hallucination would say!"

"Stop it!" I said. "What is wrong with you? Why would a coven waste a spell to convince me of anything?"

"I don't know," Damon replied. "But I don't believe in Santa Claus, and that's what the Libra coven seems to be."

"Libra?" Jo asked. "They split off from Gemini a long time ago, before we imprisoned Kai."

"Channing said she's your aunt," I said. 

"She is. She got married to a warlock who left the Aquarius coven, and together they formed the Libra coven. At least, that's what my father told me after I gave up my magic. She had left the family behind, too, but not her magic. He wanted me to think about keeping it or something."

"Just because she told you the truth once doesn't mean everything she said was the truth," Damon said to me.

"Maybe not, but if there's even a chance, then... me and Jo have to consider it," I said.

"Fine. But if this chick tries anything, I rip her throat out. Call me if you need me, I'm going to check on Elena," Damon said before he zoomed out of the barn.

"What happened to Elena?" Jo asked.

I couldn't even think what to say to that.


End file.
